Page 3 - Sanger Herald 2-15-18 E-edition

By Dick Sheppard
I hope you had a great Valentine's Day.
This has to be a weird year for my Catholic friends because Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday fell on the same day and Easter is going to be on April Fool's Day.
Dick Sheppard
I've attended councilmember Melissa Hurtado's townhall meeting and the state of the city address by mayor Frank Gonzalez and so far pretty much all I've heard about what'sinstoreforSangeriswhatwe've pre- viously written about in the Sanger Herald.
There's been no mention of potential new businesses or industry coming to Sanger.
Seems like the powers that be are counting heavily on the long promised Academy corri- dor annexation to attract new businesses and industry and a larger tax base.
I hope that works out better than those promises by a previous city administration that the completion of the 180 expressway would make Sanger a promised land for every conceivable kind of industry and busi- ness.
Instead it worked the other way.
The other way is where businesses and industry started going after the expressway was completed.
Why locate in Sanger where taxes are so high when, with the new highway, Sunnyside, Fresno and Clovis are just minutes away?
Seems like our tax and spend economy has been shaped by a lot of maybe good inten- tions and their not so good unintended conse- quences.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping to hear about some- thing we haven't already written about in the Herald.
Or, maybe that's all there is. •••
I can't help have more than one random thought about the days when the Herald received an almost weekly update from city hall about potential industry and businesses thinking about coming to town.
Those press releases from the city stopped coming with the retirement of development director Dan Spears who was responsible for bringing so many tax producing businesses to town.
Maybe Dan was responsible for writing the press releases too.
Nowadays all we see out of city hall are
colorful flyers about recreation activities that are suitable for posting on social media or tucking under a car's windshield wiper but serve little purpose for a newspaper.
Ah, the good old days when we didn't have to work so hard to find out what the heck is going on at city hall.
•••
With the scarcity of positive news com-
ing out of city hall these days it's difficult to know whether Sanger is becoming stagnant or whether the current administration is just not very good at communicating.
I suspect a little of both. •••
What a great, impressive and touching cer- emony took place last Saturday at St. Mary's Catholic Church - the American Legion's Four Chaplains' Day interfaith service.
American Legion bigwigs from all over the state came to Sanger to participate or just watch the ceremony. See the story on today's front page.
Wouldn't it have been nice if Sanger had
a hotel and convention center for those American Legion officials - and for all the visitors who come from all over the country to observe the Sanger Unified School District in action?
Maybe that will happen when, if ever, the Academy corridor annexation takes place.
Maybe.
We're trying to rent office space at the Herald to the every other year grand jury that comes to town to poke around city hall.
•••
I hope you'll read the story on page 7A
about the Fairmont and high school students
who are involved in a science and technology project that will wind up in space.
"You've done something that no one in Sanger Unified has ever done before or will ever do again. You have something to put on your resume," superintendent of schools Matt Navo told the youngsters who were being honored by the school board Tuesday eve- ning.
Sean Viau and Austin Griesner from Fairmont and Elisa Rocha and Jackie Ramirez from the high school created and explained the experiment and Heidi Kimzey from Fairmont and Yosselin Fernandez from the high school designed patches that will go into space with the experiment, then come back to the schools.
Do I sense a potential fundraising project selling replicas of those patches?
I know I would buy a few.
We don't really need another reason to
be proud of our great school district. But, really, this is a huge reason to boast about to those Clovis folk about our district, adminis- trators, teachers and students.
•••
There'll be more proof that our Sanger
students are super smart at this evening's district science fair, starting at 6 p.m. at Washington Academic Middle School.
The erupting volcano I put together as a science project back in the olden days looks pretty lame compared to anything you'll see this evening at WAMS.
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or maybe made by calling 875-2511
Random thoughts Is that all there is?
According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics.
Were all those chocolates and bottles of sparkling wine paving a pleasant but perma- nent pathway to hell for my good Catholic friends on such a confusing day?
So, I felt compelled to volunteer, as a friend, to help relieve any feelings of tempta- tion and guilt by taking the chocolates and bottles of sparkling wine off the hands of any conflicted Catholics.
There were no takers. •••
Last week when I commented on the con- trasts between the school district and the City of Sanger I was remiss for failing to mention one of the great similarities.
Both are visited on a regular basis by out of towners who want to see what's going on.
Every year the school district hosts hun- dreds of guests from all over the United States who come to see how a great school district is run.
Almost every other year the city is visited by members of the Fresno County grand jury who come to see why a potentially great city can'tseemtopullitself awayfromverypub- lic municipal governance irregularities.
•••
Speaking of the city, I'm looking forward
to the townhall meeting in councilmember Daniel Martinez's district at 6 p.m. in the Reagan Elementary School multipurpose room on Feb. 27.
In my OPINION
If the state has more money than it needs
why doesn't it refund some of it to taxpayers?
SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018 EDITORIAL & OPINION
The deficit is ready to go to the stratosphere. The U.S. is going broke because of the filibuster and the bipartisan consensus to spend more.
We welcome guest columns at the Herald
By Fred Hall
It would be a huge over- statement if I were to tell you that I eagerly anticipate the Winter Olympics every four years, but it is true thatthesearetraditionally enjoyable athletic events. They are a pleasant meld of athletic skills with artistic presentation.
Fred Hall
that some of the cities that have the most stressed citizens - tax wise - are right here in CentralCalifornia. Visaliaranksnumbertwo in the nation and Fresno is a solid number five.
The “tax-stressed” index ranks those cities where its citizens owe the most for additional taxationatyear'send. Itshouldsurpriseno one that four of the top ten locations nation- wide are right here in the Central Valley, especially when those folks in Sacramento don't seem to give a damn!
There are, indeed, two states of California, atleastintermsofeconomics. Thoseliving the sheltered, liberal lives along our coast have no idea about what the hell it takes
to support a household one hundred miles inland-nordotheyseemtocare. Thedysto- pian existence displayed in Sacramento is all the proof one needs.
Making a mockery of the entire Democrat messattheStateHouseistherecently released notification that the State of Californiahassomuchmoneyonhandthat spendingitallhasbecomeaproblem. Take my word for it, the task of wasting taxpayer money on pet projects has never been a problemforthosefolks. Rightnow,some
of my favorite government officials are get- ting newly remodeled offices, complete with bloated staffs, new carpet and new furni- ture just to make sure they are completely comfortable. Thereisnothing-asfarasI know - against a refund to taxpayers of the excess money which has been extracted from the paychecks of hard-working Californians. Remember that a lot of them live right here in The Valley. That might even be more of an incentive than lavishly remodeling offices for state workers at our expense.
But, as always, that's only one man's opin- ion.
In addition to the Sanger Herald, Publisher Fred Hall oversees two other Mid Valley Publishing newspapers - Reedley Exponent, and Dinuba Sentinel. He can be contacted by phone at (559) 638-2244 or by email at fred@ midvalleypublishing.com.
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As with all athletic competitions on an internationallevelitseemsthattheycan'tbe allowed to pass without politics being inter- jected into an otherwise pleasant meeting of dedicated young competitors.
Onecan'thelpbutnoticetheglorifica- tion of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister by the media for her appearance at the Winter Olympics at PyeongChang, South Korea. HatredoftheTrumpAdministration apparently knows no bounds by the major playersinAmericanmedia. TheNewYork Times,WashingtonPostandothershave virtually nominated this woman for a Nobel Peace Prize all at the expense of our own VicePresident. ThewordIwoulduseis “shameful.”
We all know that there have tradition- ally been some really strange recipients of that award but to feel that a member of the world'smostoppressiveregimeshouldbe considered for such a honor when her sub- jects are starving and have absolutely no rights is disgusting.
Some may blame our president for the undermining of the credibility of American media but that wound has been self inflicted by many of those who report the news and interpret its meaning for all of among the greatunwashed. This“freepress,"whichis constitutionally mandated by our forefathers, hascompletelygoneofftherails! Justreport the news and we'll figure out what it means.
•••
With the current California political cul-
ture of tax and spend - then go back to the taxpayer for more - it should surprise no one
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